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How both MBO and CPU ended up dead?

Hello everyone,
My MBO is ASROCK N68 VS3 FX and my CPU is AMD FX 4100. A month ago, my PC stopped working. Read the full story here: http://www.antionline.com/showthread...-power-failure
I requested a replacement because it had warranty. Got the new MBO and CPU three days ago. They were shipped from California to me in Canada!
I tried to assemble it myself but it wouldn't turn on! I figured either I had damaged something or it was wrong wiring! So I gave it to a PC guy for diagnosis and he said both MBO and CPU were dead.
Fortunately, it still has warranty but my question is, which case do you think is the most likely one? Did I cause the damage or can it be something like the power supply passing too much electricity or may it happen during shipment?
I admit that it was my first time setting up a computer but I really didn't do anything especial ((((( I watched a Youtube video and did according to that! I didn't care about touching something connected to the ground to get rid of my own electricity though! thought it wouldn't be serious! May this has killed both MBO and CPU?

I'm worried that same thing is gonna happen to the new MBO and CPU I'm gonna get soon...
Please let me know what you guys think

PS. this is really not gonna be economical if it happens again! I had to pay 35 bucks to the guy for diagnosis and have to pay for shipment of two MBOs to California .. sigh ... they will refund the price of one of them cause it's on hold till I send them the defective part ... I will definitely buy PCs from local stores in future .. another sigh!

Hi there boyboy, I hope that you are personally a lot better than your PC!

You said:

I tried to assemble it myself but it wouldn't turn on!

Did you get any lights, fans spinning, or hard drive noises when you attempted to power up? If you did not, then I would say that I am 99.999% certain that the problem is your power supply (PSU), and your previous symptoms were a result of it gradually failing. Also did you see if the DVD drive would open and shut? The fans would generally not all be powered from the MoBo, and the HDDs and optical drives are fed directly from the PSU.

Because I do this sort of thing regularly, I invested in a fancy PSU testing device a few years ago..........very useful; given that a part of the PSU might fail rather than all of it, particularly if it is dual rail; also the voltages might be wrong.

Could you ask your PC expert if he tested the rig with a known working PSU, and the processor in a known working MoBo; also did he meter/test the PSU?

When you powered up, did you hear any noise or smell burnt plastic? I have known PSUs to turn into MoBo and CPU killers

I am afraid that OEMs frequently use the cheapest components to meet a price point, and the PSU is one of the most common alongside the MoBo.

I think that the "acid test" is the DVD drive door, as that should open and close even if it is the only device attached to the PSU.

I am not knocking your PC expert but it is easy to miss things. I met this old boy in a pub once and after we had been talking for a while, he told me his PC kept crashing after a while, and that he had taken it to a local expert who had replaced the PSU, but it still crashed.

I collected it and immediately saw that the bozo hadn't even bothered to clean the heatsink and fans.....not even the grilles! but I quickly noticed that it had two different memory speeds so I removed the rogue strip and ran it with the original 512MB of Kingston......................worked just fine! so I put the rogue strip into a compatible PC and ran Memtest86..................the screen turned blood red in seconds as it found so many errors, the memory stick was totally hosed.

The computer had been "upgraded" from XP to Vista, and whoever did that had added the extra memory stick. When Vista got busy it tried to use RAM in excess of the original 512MB Kingston RAM, and found the dud stick.

My wife and I delivered it back to him, and he took us out for a couple of drinks, I wouldn't charge him because the IT "expert" had brought the profession into disrepute.................. I also cleaned out all the dust bunnies and replaced the thermal compound.

I look forward to your reply, but still feel that the PSU is the most likely culprit.............you should be able to get another under warranty.

Cheers,

BTW, MLF is correct about the static thing, but given your previous problems with this pre-assembled OEM box, I doubt if that is the case in this particular instance.

If you cannot do someone any good: don't do them any harm....
As long as you did this to one of these, the least of my little ones............you did it unto Me.
What profiteth a man if he gains the entire World at the expense of his immortal soul?

Hello Nihil, Thank you so much. I'm almost fine Fortunately I had the Asus laptop so now it's connected to monitor and keyboard like what I was doing with that VAIO before ...

Originally Posted by nihil

Did you get any lights, fans spinning, or hard drive noises when you attempted to power up? If you did not, then I would say that I am 99.999% certain that the problem is your power supply (PSU), and your previous symptoms were a result of it gradually failing.

When everything was connected and I pressed the power, I would see the fan spinning for 1sec and then stop (like there was a little bit left over electricity in the wires?!!!!!!!!).

Originally Posted by nihil

Also did you see if the DVD drive would open and shut? The fans would generally not all be powered from the MoBo, and the HDDs and optical drives are fed directly from the PSU.

Unfortunately, I didn't test the DVD drive but it wouldn't open and shut automatically ...

Could you ask your PC expert if he tested the rig with a known working PSU, and the processor in a known working MoBo; also did he meter/test the PSU?

He said testing how much voltage passes through PSU requires a very expensive device that we don't have! But he tested the MoBo in other devices and processor in other working MoBos and they wouldn't work.
I'm not sure about PSU. Guess I'll have to give it individually to someone to test ...

When you powered up, did you hear any noise or smell burnt plastic? I have known PSUs to turn into MoBo and CPU killers

No plastic burnt. The only noise I would say was like a very short whistle when I plugged the power cable (and maybe after powering up? can't really remember .. I also mentioned this in my previous thread); this my description in that post: "I disconnect the power cable or unplug it from the socket or press the bottom at the back of the case (i.e. when I disconnect electricity completely), I hear a tiny sound of beep like a small crescendo!!!!!! for 2 or 3 seconds and then it stops"
I should say it wasn't a beep actually, more like a whistle ...

I think that the "acid test" is the DVD drive door, as that should open and close even if it is the only device attached to the PSU.

so sorry like really, why would I not test the DVD drive? I will try to ask him on Tuesday hopefully he remembers (Monday is Victoria day :| )

I am not knocking your PC expert but it is easy to miss things.

I didn't meet the technician when I gave them the PC. Eventually I chatted with him and am skeptical too (got that impression during the chat) ....

My wife and I delivered it back to him, and he took us out for a couple of drinks, I wouldn't charge him because the IT "expert" had brought the profession into disrepute.................. I also cleaned out all the dust bunnies and replaced the thermal compound.

I'll move to England ... one problem I have is that I don't have a car so am limited to local stores a few blocks away from me ...

I look forward to your reply, but still feel that the PSU is the most likely culprit.............you should be able to get another under warranty.

Thanks a lot...I'll try to ask someone to test my PSU on Tuesday and keep you updated ...

Best

BTW, MLF is correct about the static thing, but given your previous problems with this pre-assembled OEM box, I doubt if that is the case in this particular instance.[/QUOTE]

He said testing how much voltage passes through PSU requires a very expensive device that we don't have!

I think that I paid £26 (GBP) for mine............. not as much as an 80 plus bronze certified PSU? OK, you have to test each lead individually, but that is no real hassle.

I am now pretty sure that it is your PSU, and that it has killed the MoBo/CPU. I would get on to the suppliers and tell them that you need a replacement for the MoBo, CPU and PSU.

I would be cautious about testing the existing PSU other than with a testing device, as it might well cause more damage if connected to normal computer equipment.

Good luck!

If you cannot do someone any good: don't do them any harm....
As long as you did this to one of these, the least of my little ones............you did it unto Me.
What profiteth a man if he gains the entire World at the expense of his immortal soul?

Again I was told that there was a problem with the mobo I got under warranty ...
so figured screw the warranty and bought a new mobo and processor and set it up. It turned on saying the memory has changed you need to blahblahblah (there's already an OS installed) so I go to BIOS and look around and save and exit and it shuts down in one second. and it wouldn't turn on!
So I thought there was something wrong. This morning I tried again and it turned on! I wasn't able to use the OS (said start up needs repair) though so at one point I used the power bottom to shut down the PC to be able to change the boot priority and reinstall the window but it wouldn't turn on again!
I guess this is an internal mechanism that if the shut down is accidentally, it doesn't allow a reboot for a certain time! am I right?
But anyways I hope after reinstalling the window it'll be fine....
PS. well no it's the old power supply. they keep telling me it's fine

Thank you shay
I reinstalled the os but it doesnt recognize my graphics card now so am unable to use windows normally
My graphics card is xfxforce and when i try to install it it says faild to load detection driver
When i bought the new mobo and cpu, they mounted it for me so i guess that shouldnt be the problem